You’re aware that many sites on the Internet today are chock-full of illegal MP3’s just waiting for thousands of opportunists to come along and grab them. If you download from these peer-to-peer sites, your happy days are done and gone. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with the enthusiastic cooperation of the government, is cracking down on perpetrators of copyright theft. Piracy is a crime, and you’ll do well to be aware of the facts.

It’s quite understandable that you, like many other music lovers, are trying to find ways and means to save on anything and everything, given the recession that’s brought a damper down on the economy. Things aren’t all that hopeless, however. Your days of enjoying free MP3’s aren’t over. You can still download music for free from sites that are legal enough to keep you from prosecution.

There are millions of MP3’s available for download on the Internet. They’re free, and most importantly, legitimate. If you are patient enough to look for them, you won’t have to give up your music enjoyment just because it isn’t in the household budget. Here are some tips for you to get started:

Tip 1 – keep your eyes peeled for opportunities to download music for free, but not from file sharing sites that are the number one carriers of illegal MP3 downloads. File swapping and trading can make you highly vulnerable to viruses, malware, adware, and trojans that will put your system at risk, not to mention the deadly spyware programs hackers use to perpetrate identity theft.

Tip 2 – become a groupie. Well, not really, but you can become a loyal fan of your favorite bands, performance artists, and major record labels. Sign up to their websites and subscribe to their newsletters or mailing lists, and you’ll be the first to hear about new releases, tour dates, and more importantly, free promotional music downloads from your favorite performers. These are safe, legal, and 100% free!

Tip 3 – connect with other people. There are dozens of social media applications like MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, and Twitter. All of these sites host the profiles of hundreds upon thousands of aspiring and emerging musicians who will all be eager to share their original sound with you. Not only will you get to download music for free, you may just discover the next pop superstar.

Tip 4 – look out for offline promotions. There are a lot of offline opportunities to download free music, like some of the big record brands who are known to give away free credits, codes and download links for iTunes when you least expect them. Again, these are safe and legal, and more to the point, free!

Tip 5 – browse through online music stores. This doesn’t mean you’ll have to shell out a lot of money, though. A good number of popular MP3 download providers offer free music downloads as a trial. eMusic.com, for instance, with its 7 million tracks, will give you 25 free downloadable MP3’s as an enticement for you to try out their site.

Time and patience have their rewards. If you follow these tips, you’ll be able to save a lot of money on free and legal downloadable music without fear of illegal downloading.